A NEW DISCOVERY
by prinbink8
Summary: LAURA IS (MORE OR LESS) AN ORDINARY GIRL, BUT WHAT SHE DOESN'T KNOW, IS THAT SHE IS ABOUT TO STUMBLE UPON A WORLD SHE COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED.
1. A little Gremlin!

'Oh please mum, please?'

'NO! I'm far to busy, go and play outside!'

'But there's nobody to play with!'

'Oh Laura, i already told you, no!'

It was the sort of day that Laura thought it would be better to skip this one, and move onto the next, because she was absolutely positive that tomorrow couldn't be anywhere near as bad as today. And the reason she was so bored? It was the middle of the summer holidays, usually a very fun time, there was no school and she could do whatever she wanted, she got six weeks just her and mum. They would go lots of places, the park, the zoo, the beach, everyday was different! But this year, everything changed, mum's new boyfriend jack was moving in and all she was doing was cleaning the house and getting the rooms ready, this included moving all of her things out of her room, so that there was enough room for the new baby. Laura had thought that when mum said she had a new sister, that she would have someone to play with all the time and teach things to and boss around, but instead, she got a freezing, pooping noisy little pink thing.

She didn't want to go outside, there was nobody to play with, and imaginary games about aliens and witches and spies could only go so far when you were by yourself. There was another girl across the road, about her age. But she didn't like rolling around in the mud wrestling lions and catching gremlins. She liked to dress up dollies and have tea parties, like normal little girls mum said.

But by this point, the baby was screaming so loud, she thought that she wouldn't even be able to hear herself think in a few moments. She ran upstairs quickly to grab her pencil so that if she should find a gremlin, she would be able to catch it.

She went outside and headed towards the wood, she really did feel like catching a gremlin. She sat in a hollow of an old oak tree, her favorite place to sit, she liked to listen to the trees whispering all around her on a breezy day. As she sat there, watching the rabbits jump through the long grass as children do with waves at the beach. It was about midday when she realized she was getting hungry and was about to go home, when she heard a 'pssssst. psssssst.' She looked around behind her to see a small patch of purple grass, and she thought to herself, 'that's odd, i'v never seen purple grass before!'

She was suddenly worried that she was going mad, when a gremlin popped up out of the bottom of the oak tree, it was quite covered in soil and bits of grass. It was very wrinkled, so much so that its features were nearly obscured by it. Laura would have said it was exceptionally old, but its eyes were curious and round like a child's. It had a bowler hat on, that was far too big for it's head, it had a little orange beard that was full of grass and mud. Its lips were pursed, and like the rest of it, wrinkled and pink. Its clothes were also exceptionally odd, it was as if it had gone from different periods of time, taking an item of clothes from each one. Its hat was probably from the 1850's, it had small round spectacles on that again, far too small for its giant eyes, but they were made from magnifying glass, and so made its eyes look about three times larger than they actually were. On its body, it was wearing a toga, probably from ancient Greece but this time it was so long that it was falling off it and trailing down to the floor. It had a large trench coat covering the toga, but it was ripped so it didn't really cover much at all. And finally, on its feet were a pair of high heeled shoes, about six inches, they were too big for its feet, so they were again tied on by tiny bits of was in fact only one thing that was consistent all of its clothes were covered in mud, grass and soot. Attached to the clothes all over were pencils, they were tied on with tiny pieces of string. It was the most odd sight Laura had ever seen. And because at this point, she thought she was going mad, she could only laugh, but when she tried, nothing came out. She was stunned into silence.

The Gremlin was very out of breath, and so Laura came to her senses and took her pencil to tickle it under the chin. It made a kind of high pitched squeak at first, then it started to gurgle and splutter. And finally when it stopped, did a single hiccup. Laura grabbed it whilst it was distracted, 'Who are you?' She demanded. It started to wiggle and squirm in her hand but she wouldn't let go, she had never caught a gremlin before, and she was not about to let this one get away. 'Release me this instant!' the gremlin cried.

'No! what if you try to escape?' replied Laura

'Oh my! If i was going to escape, why would i have alerted you to my presence?'

'hmm...fine then' and she put it down.

'Thank you, now then, my name is Tonttu, and yours, i hope, is Laura?' he asked.

'How do you know my name?' She asked defensively

'Well i would have thought it was fairly obvious, i have been following you for several months now, i needed to be sure you were the right Laura, and it would appear you are.' He replied

'The right Laura? how can i be the right Laura, i don't even know what a wrong Laura would look like.'

'Well it doesn't matter now, i have decided you are the right one, and it is you i need to help me'

'Hmm, ok fine. Nice to meet you Tonttu.'

'Its very nice to meet you too Laura, now i do need your help, and i can't really explain right now, so it's best if you just follow me.'

'I can't just drop everything and follow you, i have to tell my mum where i am, and i'm hungry!' She exclaimed. But no sooner had she said this, Tonttu had hopped off. I say hopped, because this is quite literally what he did, for he only had one big foot, right under the center of his body.

Well She was so surprised by this, she Just had to see what this odd little creature wanted, so she ran behind him into the trees, trying to avoid low branches and tripping over shrub bushes.

They had been running for about five minutes she guessed, and by this point, was quite sure that the wood was nowhere near this big, she had explored it enough times to know. When suddenly, she ran straight into a massive spiders web, about 2 meters wide and long.

'Ewwww!' She cried. But she couldn't complain for long, for the next thing she knew, Tonttu had stopped right in front of her and it took all her might not to fall straight over him. She was now eager to see where they had stopped. And was dumbstruck when there was nothing other than a small farm, complete with bails of hay and animals and the reeking stench of poo!


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for reading my story, i hope you like the next chapter!**

The farmyard was typical of what you might expect, there was mud everywhere, and not only on the floor. A red tractor, once bright and colorful now dulled by mud and dust sat under a canopy. A creaky rust metal gate hung off its hinges from a wooden post, and there was an empty barn, with bits of wood crumbling off it.

'I don't really understand' said Laura, now considerably confused 'i have been into the woods hundreds of times, but never here.'

'No I don't suppose you have, you can only get in if someone invited you in.' Tonttu replied.

'But...that doesn't make any sense!' she cried, 'How would...?'

'Oh be quiet, just follow me.' He whispered quietly, and headed towards the disheveled barn.

When they walked in, an overwhelming smell of rotten vegetables and sewage hit Laura. 'Ewww, that's disgusting!' But he just ignored her and carried on towards a stall, with a determined look on his wrinkled face. He went into the stall and Laura followed, trying not to breathe because of the terrible smell. However, when she got into the stall, the air was suddenly fresh and clean, and she could have sworn she had walked straight into Christmas, it was pine trees. Also there was a sudden breeze, it was cold, but not unpleasant, though she couldn't decipher where it was coming from.

'Now i know you like to ask questions, but just for the next few minutes, could you simply do as i ask you?' Tonttu asked skeptically. She didn't like the sound of that, but was getting fed up with being told off, so she reluctantly agreed. 'Thank you. Now get into that water trough please.' He said, quite serious to Laura's horror. And she was about to complain when she realized her promise, said nothing, and climbed in tentatively, worried her feet would get very wet.

Oddly enough, she looked down and found not even her shoes got wet, it was as if there was no water at all. She was about to inquire as to why this was, when as she looked up, Tonttu was spinning around in the air, and he jumped four times. She was confused at first, nothing happened for a second, until she felt like she was being pulled in lots of different directions, Her vision when blurry at the edges and eventually, the farmyard had disappeared. Everything when white and the next hing she knew, a pain shot up her left arm, and an odd sight filled her eyes, a bright blue sky that was not there a few seconds ago.


End file.
